2002 Porsche 911 Carrera

One of the beauties of jet lag is you often wake up unnaturally early in the morning in a foreign country and find yourself with nothing better to do than take a long walk.

This is especially pleasant if has brought you to the little village of Murnau, in the foothills of the Alps, to drive the newly updated . You get to watch the sun rise over green fields and onion-domed Bavarian churches, then walk back to the hotel and look over the row of 911s that await a press corps drive on those Alpine roads.

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This is what is known in our business as a Good Morning.

Just as there is very little to dislike about this prospect, there was also not much to dislike about last year's 996-series 911. It's simply one of the most competent, fast and thoroughly engineered GT/sports cars on the market. Some of the Porsche faithful, however, were dismayed to see the 996 Carrera sharing its front-end look with the new Boxster, blurring its visual distinction. So, to keep everyone smiling, Porsche has revised the styling for 2002, and added a dose of performance at the same time.

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The biggest functional change is a 4.8-mm stroke increase that bumps displacement from 3.4 to 3.6 liters. This, combined with the use of a revised VarioCam Plus system borrowed from the Turbo and GT2, has pushed peak horsepower from 300 bhp at 6800 rpm to 320 bhp at 6800. Torque is likewise up, from 258 lb.-ft. at 4600 rpm to 273 lb.-ft. at a much lower 4250 rpm.

More power produces more heat, of course, so front air ducts were redesigned to push 15 percent more cooling air through the radiators. Porsche also reshaped the wheel arches, ducts and air dam to reduce front-end lift by an astounding 25 percent and rear lift by 40 percent. All this without changing the commendable drag coefficient of 0.30, while actually reducing fuel consumption, according to Porsche, by 6 percent.

Part of this reshaped front-end package now includes front fenders and headlights borrowed from the 911 Turbo, while the most noticeable changes at the rear are a new contour line around the lower third of the rear panel, with new twin oval tailpipes at the outer edges. Also, lighter-weight alloy wheels reduce unsprung weight by 7.9 lb. on the standard 17-in. wheels and trim a heady 23.4 lb. off a set of the optional 5-spoke 18-inchers.

Interior changes include an instrument panel taken directly from the 911 Turbo, a bigger glovebox, andyes!a retractable cupholder. Porsche admits that today's clogged roads sometimes leave us with time to sip a drink.

If we had few (i.e., no) functional complaints about last year's Carrera, there's even more not to complain about this year. The improved engine simply augments the Carrera's superb midrange torque and tractability and accentuates the push of its upper-end rush, now amplified by new mufflers that unleash a nice leonine growl.

The Tiptronic S automatic-equipped coupe I sampled was easy to drive, with its steering-wheel-mounted buttons, but I much preferred the standard 6-speed transmission; it's simply more involving and fun, with crisper acceleration and less driveline vibration off slow 1st-gear corners.

Heavy summer traffic kept us well short of the claimed 177-mph top speed on the Autobahn, but at a 125-mph cruise, the car is stable, planted and comfortable, with the brakes to haul it down right now when some good burgher's Diesel Whatever trundles leftward. On mountain roads, the Carrera imparts total confidence in its grip and agilitythough several of us remarked it is almost too wide for the narrower, rural German roads. Seems the roads haven't been widened since the 356 was introduced.

When the road opens up, however, there are few cars on earth that can touch the 911's sheer driveability, now enhanced once again to a less -like standard.

Introduction of the new 911 was slated for September of this year as a 2002 model. Prices were projected to be just slightly higher than those of the 2001 models.